Out of 40 actionable points and proposals discussed in the national conference of chief secretaries in June 2022, the central government has fully implemented 16 proposals while work on 24 is underway, said NITI Aayog’s action-taken report.
The eighth meeting of the governing council was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by chief ministers on May 27, but 11 of them skipped it. Those who gave it a miss were largely from the opposition parties, citing prior engagements while others claimed that they did not have much scope to speak or raise issues related to their states.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee called the meeting “fruitless” and stressed on the need of getting the planning commission back in action. The NITI Aayog came up with its action-taken report and listed the projects it has implemented as well as suggestions from states and ministries it is working on.
“NITI Aayog has identified the list of actionable points from all the discussions and suggestions, and undertaken follow-up actions,” stated the report accessed by News18.
“The issues raised by the chief ministers were subsequently segregated ministry-wise and circulated to the respective ministries. NITI Aayog has since been following up with various ministries and departments. Wherever feasible, the ministries and departments have taken appropriate action on the suggestion of the states both in terms of policy and specific projects,” it said.
AMRUT, PM Gati Shakti focus areas
Of the many issues, the report of the NITI Aayog included focal points. To promote startups, the government has launched the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0, under which it organised a water-pitch-pilot-scale challenge to encourage innovative, workable and scalable solutions to address challenges in urban water management.
“A total of 76 disruptive innovations have been shortlisted under this challenge,” the report stated. It further stated that the states have been urged to undertake special recruitment drives to fill vacancies in urban local bodies (ULB). It said the ministry of housing and urban affairs is also working with the capacity building commission (CBC) to assess training needs for elected representatives and officials of ULBs.
“Pilot exercises have been conducted in eight cities so far. The draft annual capacity building plans of four cities, including Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Rajkot and Mysuru, have been prepared. The employees have already been taken on board on iGOT Karmayogi platform in these cities. So far, a total of 57,134 municipal functionaries and elected representatives (against the target of 45,000) have received capacity building training under AMRUT,” the report said.
It added: “Data of various urban governance programmes is being integrated with PM Gati Shakti portal. Integration and uploading has been completed for GIS data of Smart City Mission, Swachh Bharat Mission Urban and Metro projects for 12 cities. The GIS data of sewerage and water supply systems is under progress for AMRUT and other initiatives,” the report added.
It further said it will consider developing a district-wise export index, which will also capture the value and variety of exports across districts.
G20, an opportunity
The states have been asked to “leverage the opportunity provided by the G20 presidency to showcase their products, culture, and tourism destinations”.
“The G20 meetings are being held in 59 cities across the length and breadth of India, covering all states and UTs. Local products, including ODOP, are being promoted by states and UTs through displays, exhibitions, delegate kits and visits to their art and craft centres,” the report said.
“A robust year-long program of cultural projects such as exhibitions, immersive experiences, symposiums, seminars, workshops, lecture demonstrations among others has been developed. The G20 Culture Working Group (CWG) meetings are being organised with the aim to encourage traditional cultural practices and to promote ‘Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE)’ as a campaign for sustainable living,” it said.
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